NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Alabama State baseball lost the final game of a three-game weekend series at Northwestern State, losing 8-4 Sunday at Brown-Stroud Field.
Yamil Pagan hit his first home run of the season, and
Chris Biocic went two-for-four for Alabama State, which had seven hits in the contest.
The Hornets started fast, scoring runs in the first two innings. In the first,
Carlos Ocasio singled with two outs, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a throwing error for a 1-0 ASU lead.
In the second,
Joseph Estrada hit a one-out double to right center, and advanced to third on a groundout. Pagan then homered to left field on a 1-1 pitch, the first home run of the year for Alabama State, to give the Hornets a 3-0 lead.
After Northwestern State responded with four runs in the second and one in the third to take a 5-3 lead, Alabama State closed the gap in the sixth.
Angel Alicea, who singled to lead off the inning, and later moved to third on a walk and double-play groundout, scored on a wild pitch to close the deficit to 5-4.
Once again, the Demons answered, scoring two runs in the home half of the sixth and one run in the eighth for the final margin.
"It's clear we have some work to do," head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. "Production this weekend was not what I expected but it's early and we have a lot of new players. We will be ok. We've got to continue to work hard and relax at the plate."
The Hornets return to action Tuesday in a 6:30 p.m. game at South Alabama, with a live radio broadcast on bamastatesports.com.
